Maori Staff, New Zealand

inscribed in white: "HOOPER COLL. / No. 1235. N.Z. / # 134".

John Thomas Lowndes, Liverpool, collected in New Zealand between 1844 and 1847
James T. Hooper, Arundel (inv no. "1235"/"134"), acquired in Southampton in 1935
Private English collection
Sotheby's, New York, 19 May 2001, lot 75
Jan Krugier, Monaco, acquired at the above auction

Steven Phelps, Art and Artifacts of the Pacific, Africa and the Americas: The James Hooper Collection, London 1976, p. 60, pl. 28, and p. 413

Very good condition for an object of this type and age. Marks, nicks, scratches, abrasions, wear, and small chips consistent with age and traditional handling. Surface abrasions to lower part from contact with stand. Some inlaid elements possibly replaced. Minor hairline age cracks. Small losses in top finial element. Exceptionally fine dark reddish brown patina with encrustation.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Born in 1897, James Thomas Hooper has been called "the last Englishman to form a great collection of Tribal art" (Waterfield 2006: 111).  He acquired his first ethnographic object, a spear, from his father while still a teenager, and shortly afterwards began scouring London antiques shops for such "curios".  After returning from service in the first World War, in which he served as a Signaller in the Royal Army Flying Corps, Hooper continued to pursue his interest in aquiring works of African, Native American, and especially Oceanic art, soon realizing that "...many of the products of primitive man were becoming increasingly difficult to obtain" (Hooper and Burland 1953: 11), and resolved to devote himself to the preservation of these precious objects. With the assitance of Cottie Burland of the British Museum, he published The Art of Primitive Peoples in 1953; as Burland noted in the introduction, Hooper "felt it a duty to preserve something of the past for the sake of the future.  It is a collection of things of beauty, which will never be made again, of which the ancient inspiration has fled. [...] There is no doubt that the collection is among the finest in private hands in Europe both from the point of view of quality of specimens and of careful documentation."  Hooper opened his collection to the public in 1957: "The Totems Museum" in High Street, Arundel, Sussex was the culmination of his life's work.

Hooper kept a detailed ledger cataloguing each object in his collection, numbering each piece sequentially; these "H" numbers are found today on dispersed Hooper objects, many of which have found their way into prominent institutional collections including The British Museum in London and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.